“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
A devotional is not a race through the Bible, and it does not replace church, deeper Bible study or prayer through the rest of the day. Think of it as the first conversation of the day: the one that sets the tone for all the others.
A simple pattern: five steps, about ten minutes
Settle (1 minute)
Sit somewhere quiet and set your phone to Do Not Disturb, unless you read on it. Take a breath and ask God to speak to you. A short prayer is enough: "Lord, help me hear You."
Read (3 minutes)
Read one short passage slowly, ideally twice. A few verses or a single chapter is plenty. Reading out loud helps you notice words you would otherwise skim past.
Reflect (3 minutes)
Ask three questions. What does this show me about God? What does it show me about people, and about me? What is one thing I can believe or do today because of it?
Pray (2 minutes)
Turn what you read into prayer. Thank God for what is true, confess what the passage shows you, ask for what it promises, and pray for one other person by name.
Carry one line (1 minute)
Pick a phrase from the passage to take with you. Write it on a card, save it on your phone, or say it again at lunch. As James puts it, "be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22).
Try it now: a short devotion on Psalm 143:8
Here is the pattern above, worked through once. Read slowly; it takes about five minutes.
“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”
Reflect
David wrote this psalm under real pressure. A few verses earlier he says the enemy has persecuted him and his spirit is overwhelmed within him (Psalm 143:3-4). So notice what he asks for first. Not an escape, and not even a plan. He asks to hear God's lovingkindness, and to hear it in the morning, before anything else gets a word in.
Most mornings the first voices we hear are an alarm, a screen and a to-do list. David asks for a different first word: the steady, faithful love of God. Only then does he ask for direction, and he gives the reason he expects an answer: “for in thee do I trust.”
The last line is an offering: “I lift up my soul unto thee.” Not his plans or his performance, but his soul, the tired, hopeful, distracted whole of him. You can do the same this morning, even if all you have to lift up is a sigh.
About God: His love is steady, and He can be trusted with the day ahead. About me: I need to hear His love before I can hear anything else well. For today: I can bring one decision I am unsure about to Him and ask Him to show me the way.
Pray
Lord, before anything else speaks to me today, let me hear Your lovingkindness. I trust You with what is ahead of me. Show me the way I should walk, one step at a time. I lift my soul to You, just as I am. In Jesus' name, Amen.
How to make it a habit
Pick a time and a place, and keep them. Many people find the morning easiest, before the day fills up. Psalm 5:3 pictures exactly that: “in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” But a lunch break or the last minutes before bed count just as much. The best time is the one you will keep.
Start smaller than you think. Five minutes you keep beats thirty you skip. Tie it to something you already do every day, like your first cup of coffee, so you do not have to remember it.
Read through a book. Hopping between random verses makes it hard to see what a passage means. A Gospel is a good place to start: John has 21 chapters and Mark has 16, so a chapter a day takes you through either in about three weeks. The Psalms are good company on hard days.
When you miss a day, start again the next morning. God's mercies, Lamentations says, “are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23). A devotional is a gift you receive, not a score you keep.
Common misconceptions
A few things people often get wrong on this topic.
MythIt only counts if I feel something.
TruthFeelings come and go. Showing up on ordinary, quiet mornings is how faith grows, and God is at work in you whether or not you feel it.
MythI need a devotional book or an app to do it properly.
TruthThey can help, but a Bible and ten minutes are enough. A good devotional, printed or digital, sends you back to the Bible rather than replacing it.
MythMissing a day means I have failed.
TruthHabits are built by coming back, not by never slipping. Start again tomorrow; there is no backlog to catch up on.
MythIt has to be in the morning.
TruthMorning works well for many people, but an evening devotional is just as real. Choose the time you can keep.
If you use a published devotional
Many people look for a daily devotional by name. Two well-known ones are Our Daily Bread, from Our Daily Bread Ministries, which has a free app, and Jesus Calling, the yearlong devotional by Sarah Young. Faithero is not affiliated with either, and nothing on this page is taken from them.
Whichever devotional you use, the pattern above still helps. Read the Bible passage the devotion is built on, in full and in its context, before you read the reflection. Then close in your own words, not only someone else's. A devotional is a guide to the Bible, not a substitute for it.
Where Faithero fits
Faithero is an iPhone and iPad app built around this daily rhythm. It does not have a library of written devotionals. It gives you the parts of one, every day:
- A verse every morningThe verse of the day is the same for everyone that day. Tap "What does this mean?" for a short explanation in plain words.
- Listen, save or askHear the verse read aloud, save it, or ask the Bible Guide about it. Say Amen to keep your streak.
- A reminder that brings the verseThe morning reminder carries the day's verse, at the time you choose.
- A chapter for the eveningA chapter a night from John, Mark, the Psalms or Romans, picked from a few questions when you start.
- A prayer about your dayWhen the words are hard to find, the Bible Guide can help you put them together.
- On your Home ScreenWidgets show the verse of the day, your streak and tonight's chapter.
Faithero is a paid app: it starts with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan, then a subscription or a one-time purchase. A Bible and ten minutes cost nothing, and they are all you really need. Choosing an app? See how Faithero compares with YouVersion and Hallow.
What a daily devotional is
At its simplest, a devotional has three parts. You read a short passage of Scripture. You think about what it says. And you respond to God in prayer. That is all. There is no right length, no special vocabulary and no test at the end.
Jesus made room for this Himself. Mark tells us that very early, long before daylight, He went off to a solitary place to pray: